


Recruiting the Assassin

by reddish



Series: The Zevrina Chronicles [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Gen, zevrina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-15
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-15 01:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddish/pseuds/reddish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brief drabble of the walk back from Zevran's failed ambush -- their first interactions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recruiting the Assassin

Erina walked behind Alistair and Morrigan on their way back to camp. The two were bickering as though she wasn’t even there, same as always. This time it didn’t really annoy her or amuse her, though. She had more on her mind.

And more to carry. In addition to her pack of supplies, she had a rope in her hands she was using to pull the newest addition to the team. Wrex, her Mabari hound, was loyally at her side, keeping his eyes on the tattooed elf behind her.

“Good boy,” she said.

“Who, me?” Zevran asked with hope in his voice, piping up for the first time since the journey began.

Wrex barked angrily at the intruder attempting to take his praise.

“You made Wrex mad,” Erina said, glancing back at the blonde elf. “Bad move.”

“Ah, yes. Even the dog is loved more than the assassin elf, I understand.”

“Considering the dog helped me not be killed by you, yes.”

Zevran scoffed. “I did not truly want to kill you, you know.”

“Sure. That’s why you had roughly a thousand bandits with you.”

“Alas,” Zevran said with a sigh. “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

Erina stopped, causing Zevran to bump into her back. She turned to face him, glaring harshly. “Look, you realize I can change our arrangement at any time, right?”

“Of course, my Warden.”

“And you realize you’ve already been _spared,_ right?”

“Understood, yes.” Zevran nodded happily.

“So why are you still talking?”

Zevran shrugged. “To pass the time? To become acquainted with a beautiful Warden, who is also my gracious savior?”

“I’m regretting this already,” Erina groaned.

“Shall I provide you the dagger with which to kill me? I do happen to have brought my favorite with me on this job.”

Erina blinked at him, then narrowed her eyes. “You better be joking.”

“About what? Having a favorite dagger?”

“About wanting me to kill you, dumbass.”

Zevran raised his bound fists in protest. “I never said I _wanted_ you to kill me, Warden. I simply offered a tool you might use. It means a lot to me, you see.”

“Are you insane?”

Zevran laughed: A warm, smooth sound, like tea and honey. “Perhaps, but of the two of us, I have not taken an assassin hired to kill me into my party.”

“So I’m insane,” Erina said flatly. “You’re really endearing yourself to me, you know.”

“I am told I grow on people,” Zevran offered with a hopeful smile. “Are we near camp? I could use a meal.”

Erina stared at him, wordless. He appeared entirely immune to the reality of the circumstances he found himself in. There was a Blight on hand, a civil war brewing in Ferelden, and the Grey Wardens, the team he had just joined, were at the center of the most-wanted lists for both of those conflicts. He was captured, probably being hunted by his own assassin company, at the mercy of her whims, and he was… making jokes.

Perhaps it was all an act? Too early to tell.

“Yes,” she sighed. “We are near camp. I believe Leliana was making a stew of some kind, and I’m sure there’s enough for you to have some.”

Erina turned and started walking again, tugging a little forcefully on the rope in her hands. Zevran stumbled forward at first, but continued walking.

“You know,” he said, “You never told me your name.”

“Loghain didn’t tell you when he hired you?”

“Sadly, no. He was not very forthcoming with descriptions. He simply said,” Zevran affected an accent that was absolutely nothing like Loghain’s, “ ‘Kill the remaining Grey Warden bitch and her accomplice.’ Terrible manners.”

Erina tried to swallow it back, but a laugh broke out at his re-enactment of his hiring. It was brief, but she was sure he heard it. A quick glance back at him, and she saw he was grinning like an absolute idiot. Focusing back on the road in front of her, she tried very hard not to think about how that smile did nice things to his already perfectly-shaped face.

When they pulled up to camp, meters behind Morrigan and Alistair, Erina turned to face Zevran again. He bowed from the waist and she rolled her eyes.

“I’m going to untie the rope now,” Erina said. “If you pull any of your weapons, I will kill you. Understood?”

“Alas, I was beginning to wonder what your plans for me would be this evening, and now you tell me there will be no more rope?”

“What?” Erina gawked at him. “I have no _plans_ for you. You’re going to stay away from me, eat some dinner, and go to bed, and help me fight Darkspawn. Got it?”

Zevran pouted, but nodded. He offered his hands to her. “Then leave me to my fate, my Warden.”

“Erina,” she corrected him, placing her hands on his. They were warm, and surprisingly smooth on top. Focusing on the job, she started untying him.

“Pardon?” he tilted his head curiously.

“My name is Erina Tabris. You asked earlier. Sort of.”  As the ropes fell from his wrists, he clasped his hands around hers. She jumped, but he simply smiled at her with that irritating grin.

“A beautiful name, for a beautiful woman. Now, you said there was stew?”

Chills went up Erina’s arms, but she simply nodded at him. “Yeah, um. The campfire. Go get settled in.”

He released her from his grip, nodded respectfully, and practically pranced to the campfire in the center of their camp. Erina sighed and glanced down at Wrex, who offered her a skeptical growl.

“I know,” she agreed. “Keep an eye on him, all right? If he gets up in the middle of the night, you bark three times, got it?”

Bark, bark, bark.

“Good.” She rubbed him behind his ear and she swore he smiled at her. “Let’s get some grub, boy.”

 


End file.
